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It saddens me to forward the news that our good friend and fellow photographer, Matt Quinn, has passed.
As some of you may know, he had been battling cancer for a while and was on his way to recovery.
Please take a moment to remember him in your prayers.

"Sometimes imagination is no more than randomness applied." —Piet Francke

Matt asked "who will the lady choose", Well, I think she would choose this fine looking fellow.

My first homework assignment is to find an image that inspires me and to figure out what it is that I really like. What is it that makes you choose This image. For me, it was the wonderful and delicate details and the soft colors. It was the full range of tonal values with most in the middle, but clarity throughout (usually mine have more contrast) - so I liked very much. All the distractions are gone.

I can not post the image, because it is not mine, but here is a link to it..

And the artist also provided a link to the stock image that was used as a starting point. I found the work extremely interesting and motivating and I wish very much that I could do something like this. Anyway, this "style" is my target. My next step is to find in my saved shots or to shoot a new image that I can work trying to emulate this style.

If you have any observations to make about this artwork, please share.

It looks like she is a traditional artist who uses digital tools. If so, I'm not able to provide any ideas, since my skills at traditional art are very crude. Duck of Donolea would be your best resources. If you are trying to stick your toe in the water using photos as bases for digital interpretations that are not fully software generated but are software supported, Susan Bloom's book on digital painting in Photoshop is a good place to begin.

"God gave me photography so that I could pray with my eyes" - Dewitt Jones

It looks like she is a traditional artist who uses digital tools. If so, I'm not able to provide any ideas, since my skills at traditional art are very crude. Duck or Donolea would be your best resources. If you are trying to stick your toe in the water using photos as bases for digital interpretations that are not fully software generated but are software supported, Susan Bloom's book on digital painting in Photoshop is a good place to begin.

The sample you are referring to is a colored pencil artist's interpretation based on a photo. To recreate that look requires far greater skill than even I have. While I wouldn't want to deter you from trying, perhaps picking a Photoshop based sample to emulate to start may be better (less frustrating). There are a lot of tutorials that walk you through creating different effects that mimic traditional art. Perhaps start with those that look like they can get you into the ballpark and then take it from there.

From my own experience, I find that most of those 'artistic' effects work best when an image is first excessively processed. For example; the ever popular oil painting effect. I find that using the clone and heal brush to get rid of distracting elements and then using a smart blur gives better, more realistic results.

GraphicRiver.net offers some really top notch Photoshop actions, many of which recreate traditional art. The one I used to create the watercolor effect, on the horse images I recently posted, came from there and that action is incredibly complex. Once you get one or two you can then deconstruct the action to see how the effect was done. That in itself is a great learning tool.

The sample you are referring to is a colored pencil artist's interpretation based on a photo. To recreate that look requires far greater skill than even I have. While I wouldn't want to deter you from trying, perhaps picking a Photoshop based sample to emulate to start may be better (less frustrating). There are a lot of tutorials that walk you through creating different effects that mimic traditional art. Perhaps start with those that look like they can get you into the ballpark and then take it from there.

From my own experience, I find that most of those 'artistic' effects work best when an image is first excessively processed. For example; the ever popular oil painting effect. I find that using the clone and heal brush to get rid of distracting elements and then using a smart blur gives better, more realistic results.

GraphicRiver.net offers some really top notch Photoshop actions, many of which recreate traditional art. The one I used to create the watercolor effect, on the horse images I recently posted, came from there and that action is incredibly complex. Once you get one or two you can then deconstruct the action to see how the effect was done. That in itself is a great learning tool.

LOL - I am not expecting success to the level that the artist produced. BUT, What she did is absolutely beautiful, inspiring, and something that I wish to learn from. Thanks for your idea about extreme processing and then somehow taming it. Also, I will look at the GraphicRive actions. Thank you Duck

The sample you are referring to is a colored pencil artist's interpretation based on a photo. To recreate that look requires far greater skill than even I have. While I wouldn't want to deter you from trying, perhaps picking a Photoshop based sample to emulate to start may be better (less frustrating). There are a lot of tutorials that walk you through creating different effects that mimic traditional art. Perhaps start with those that look like they can get you into the ballpark and then take it from there.

From my own experience, I find that most of those 'artistic' effects work best when an image is first excessively processed. For example; the ever popular oil painting effect. I find that using the clone and heal brush to get rid of distracting elements and then using a smart blur gives better, more realistic results.

GraphicRiver.net offers some really top notch Photoshop actions, many of which recreate traditional art. The one I used to create the watercolor effect, on the horse images I recently posted, came from there and that action is incredibly complex. Once you get one or two you can then deconstruct the action to see how the effect was done. That in itself is a great learning tool.

Ok... so I took a break from laying Pergo, and went to the site. I did a search for "colored pencil" and found a number of actions. I procured "creative colored pencil drawing 3" for five bucks plus one buck paypal fee, and tried to use it. Didn't get it working properly, I think it is having problems with a pattern file in the wrong place or something, but regardless, it is pretty cool. It is Very complex, but the thing I like about it is that after running the action, it puts everything in a PS folder and then like you say, I can see the mystery and magic of what took place. And shut off or adjust thing.

Anyway, back to Pergo, but I might buy some more of these actions. The think I like about them is that all the technology is root to PS, so what is happening can be learned!

Ok... so I took a break from laying Pergo, and went to the site. I did a search for "colored pencil" and found a number of actions. I procured "creative colored pencil drawing 3" for five bucks plus one buck paypal fee, and tried to use it. Didn't get it working properly, I think it is having problems with a pattern file in the wrong place or something, but regardless, it is pretty cool. It is Very complex, but the thing I like about it is that after running the action, it puts everything in a PS folder and then like you say, I can see the mystery and magic of what took place. And shut off or adjust thing. Flapper429.jpg

Anyway, back to Pergo, but I might buy some more of these actions. The think I like about them is that all the technology is root to PS, so what is happening can be learned!

It may take a little digging to figure out where the files go, but I found if you look at the comments section there is often fixes to the more common problems. You aren't the first. If that doesn't help, reach out to the author. They understand the ins and outs of their product and can often give you the solution quite quickly.

Ok... so I took a break from laying Pergo, and went to the site. I did a search for "colored pencil" and found a number of actions. I procured "creative colored pencil drawing 3" for five bucks plus one buck paypal fee, and tried to use it. Didn't get it working properly, I think it is having problems with a pattern file in the wrong place or something, but regardless, it is pretty cool. It is Very complex, but the thing I like about it is that after running the action, it puts everything in a PS folder and then like you say, I can see the mystery and magic of what took place. And shut off or adjust thing. Flapper429.jpg

Anyway, back to Pergo, but I might buy some more of these actions. The think I like about them is that all the technology is root to PS, so what is happening can be learned!

It may take a little digging to figure out where the files go, but I found if you look at the comments section there is often fixes to the more common problems. You aren't the first. If that doesn't help, reach out to the author. They understand the ins and outs of their product and can often give you the solution quite quickly.

thank you Duck, figuring out actions, brushes, patterns... it will only strengthen my knowlege and comfort in PS.

further play - procured another action, this one cost 8 bucks after paypal surcharge.. Goryn Art soft colored pencil photoshop action. Frigging thing took twenty minutes to run, but came with better documentation and a youtube video that taught me a couple of things. This action had many extra layers that allowed colors, contrast, sharpening to be tuned. I just scratched the surface of what it can do, here is what my first play looks like using this action. (I think colored pencils are cool, might have to look into further sketching/drawing actions). This one also came with a variety of brushes (I used only one), that controls the effect.

When working with art media, an artist typically does not put in the small detailed nuances of texture, specially on a complex image with all the feather detail. Remember, limit on the small detail end is the size of the pencil point. Try giving the overall image a Smart Blur to reduce the minor detail and hopefully the colored pencil effect will come through better. Also try reducing the size of the image before applying the effect. Reducing a large image down to web viewing size often negates the detail of the pencil effect brushes because the brush textures get lost during the reduction if done after the fact.

One more point. The sample image of the vulture you presented isolates just one part (the head) of the bird without any additional distracting elements. Consider doing that with your flamingo. My suggestion; crop just above the head to just below the beak's shadow then from just behind the head to whatever aspect ratio out onto the wing. Size it to the actual size you want to post and then run the action. Try it with and without the blur and see which result is better.

P. S. I find most of these actions use the filter gallery for a lot of their effects. Your image must be in 8 bit for the filter gallery to work. If you've been having trouble getting an action to work look at that first.

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The founding principles of photoMENTORIS is to have a place where professional and enthusiast photographers could come and meet in order to teach, share and learn from each other. It is our goal to foster this principle in an atmosphere that encourages creativity and exploration and promotes the advancement of our art through peer mentoring and supportive critique, while having fun along the way.